


For Your Lifetime

by eternalweaving



Category: Uta no Prince-sama
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Falling In Love, Fluff, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Intimacy, Kinda, M/M, Misunderstandings, Non-Graphic Violence, POV Alternating, Swearing, background reiai, mentions of drinking/alcohol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-04-11 22:16:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21581335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternalweaving/pseuds/eternalweaving
Summary: Ranmaru never thought anyone could break down the walls he built around his heart, but...he also thought demons didn't exist.
Relationships: Ittoki Otoya/Kurosaki Ranmaru
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17
Collections: Uta No Prince Sama FlashBang 2019





	For Your Lifetime

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for the utapri flashbang 2019! Thank you to the mods for hosting this event again!  
I really did not expect this fic to be this long, and I'm kinda proud of myself for finishing it tbh. I took a lot of creative liberty with the demon lore, so I hope it's interesting and/or entertaining. Happy reading!

“All the trees around the house make it seem a little creepy, don’tcha think? It’s like we’re in the middle of a forest,” Reiji says, walking up to the house.

Ranmaru ignores him in favor of opening the back of their moving truck. 

“Isn’t that the point?” Ai looks back at him. “These houses are intended to be more secluded from each other; the trees allow for more privacy.”

The three of them had spent most of the day loading up the truck, so by the time they arrived to Ranmaru and Reiji’s new house, the sun had already begun setting. Previously, when said two have gone to check out the house, they went during broad daylight. Looking at it now, while it’s becoming increasingly dark out, Ranmaru thinks it’s understandable how Reiji gets that kind of vibe from the place. 

“That doesn’t change the fact that it’s still...spooky.”

“Would you rather live with constantly getting noise complaints?” Ai says.

Ah, yes— noise complaints; their worst enemy. Those happened more often than desired when they tried to brainstorm chords, especially when they lived in the middle of the bustling city. Ranmaru and Ai were usually instigators for it, messing around with their bass and synth. Needless to say, they might have done themselves a favor finding a neighborhood like this. 

“I _ guess _ not,” Reiji sighs. 

Ranmaru hops into the back of the truck, scoping out the smallest items of their load first. “Reiji, are ya just gonna stand there lookin’ at it like a dope, or are ya gonna unlock the door for us?”

“Alright, alright. I’m going, Ran-Ran,” he says, feet kicking up gravel as he walks towards the house. 

Reiji turns the porch light on for their ease of walking to and from the truck, and the three of them take until well past sunset to get all the boxes inside. Since it’s so late, they decide to set them along the walls of the living room for now. By the time they’re close to finishing, Reiji collapses onto the couch, so Ranmaru volunteers to take the last, big box inside.

“Why didn’t...Myu-chan want to h-help, again?” Reiji pants, spread eagle over the couch. 

“He said since he isn’t living here, he doesn’t see why he needs to help,” Ai says, setting kitchenware into the cabinets for them.

“The bastard,” Ranmaru mutters, eyes rolling as he closes the front door behind him.

“That sounds like something he would say...” Reiji checks his phone. “Wow, it’s so late! It didn’t seem like that much time had passed by.”

“Maybe if a certain _ someone _ helped out a bit more with the loadin’, we would’ve gotten here earlier,” Ranmaru says, eyeing Reiji. 

“Hahaha…” Reiji rubs the back of his neck. “Anyway— Ai-Ai! I hope you don’t mind sleeping over?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Yay! I’m gonna start making my bed, then,” Reiji says, going to look for his bedsheets and blankets. 

Reiji runs down the hall with them, while Ranmaru steals his spot on the couch, opting to take a short nap before attempting to put some essentials away. He stops hearing noise from the kitchen, and soon after feels Ai plop onto the couch next to him. Now that no one is talking or making any noise, the house is quiet. Almost uncomfortably quiet. The lack of background noise is something they will surely have to get used to after living downtown. 

Ranmaru is nearly asleep when he hears a door slam at the end of the hall. Ai mutters a curse under his breath. After a few silent minutes, Reiji’s footsteps come down the hallway and stop right at the end. 

“What?” Ai says.

Ranmaru opens his eyes to find a worried expression on Reiji’s face.

“...I thought one of you went into the studio room just now.”

“No…? We’ve been sitting here the whole time.”

“Really?” Reiji watches the door at the end of the hall. “I swear I heard it shut.”

“Yeah, we did too; it slammed. Are you fuckin’ with us?” Ranmaru accuses.

“I’m really not! Look, I have goosebumps!” Reiji holds his arm out. 

“Should we humor him?” Ai asks Ranmaru. 

Ranmaru sighs, but gets up anyway. 

Reiji hangs onto Ai’s arm as they walk down the hall together. When they approach the door, Ranmaru puts his hand on the doorknob, listening for a few seconds before slowly opening the door and peeking inside. There’s nothing unusual about the room; no signs that anyone other than them has been in there. But, the window on the far wall is open. Ranmaru goes up to it, glancing around outside. Still nothing weird. A wind shakes the trees outside, and a cold breeze sweeps into the room, ruffling Ranmaru’s hair and shirt, giving him a chill. 

“It was probably just the draft comin’ in from the open window,” Ranmaru says.

“How much was the door left open?” 

Reiji adjusts the door, leaving it open only a few inches. “Like, this much?”

“Yeah, it was definitely the wind,” Ai decides.

Ranmaru shuts the window and pulls the curtains closed. 

“Let’s keep the door shut, because this room is freaking me out…” Reiji says, still holding onto Ai.

“Don’t be such a baby, Reiji,” Ai says.

“Don’t be mean, Ai-Ai.”

“_Alright _, lovebirds.” Ranmaru shoos them out, shutting the door as they leave. “I’m tired as fuck, so help me find my bedsheets.”

  
  
  


Ranmaru ends up going to bed first. He falls asleep to Reiji and Ai’s muffled bickering across the hall about sleeping with the light on or not, and the sound of trees rustling in the wind. 

_____

The following days are busy. Not only do Reiji and Ranmaru have what seems like a thousand boxes to unpack, they also have to juggle their idol careers, especially now that they have a new Quartet Night album to help organize. In between going to song recordings and meetings, they try to unpack little by little everyday. Now, at the end of their first week living here, they’ve pretty much finished. 

Ranmaru’s last thing he has planned to do is to put his basses away in the room down the hall. It’s been designated their “studio” room— aka the place for Ranmaru to play his bass and for Ai to use his synth, if he brings it over. They’ve established this room is best for playing instruments in without annoying the hell out of anyone else that may be in the house.

The bass that Ranmaru uses most often, outside of the house, stays in its case on the couch in there. He goes to set the stands for the others by the window, but notices the carpet that spans almost the entire floor has been folded over. They only recently got the couch for the room, so he figures Reiji must have moved it for ease of getting it inside. Ranmaru unfolds it, finishes setting up his guitars, and stores their cases in the closet. 

“Ran-Ran!”

Ranmaru startles, hitting his head against the closet door. 

“Shit! What, Reiji?”

“Sorry! I forget to tell you I wanted to get rid of this carpet.”

“Why?” He rubs the back of his head. “What’s wrong with it?”

“It has some dark stains, so I think we should replace it.”

“Whad'ya mean?”

Reiji points to the corner by the closet. “Right there.”

Ranmaru examines it, noticing black smudges across the edges and the corner of the light blue carpet. He somehow missed it when he was readjusting it, but it’s very obvious now that it’s not covered. Wanting to figure out what it is, he picks up the corner.

“What’s that?” Reiji says.

Beneath the carpet, there are black lines scrawled across the floor. Ranmaru continues to pull the carpet back, revealing more lines and odd sigils in between them. He folds the carpet over, revealing the other side of the floor that was previously hidden, and they find what appears to be a pentagram. If Ranmaru didn’t know better, he would say it looked like something used in a demonic ritual. When he looks over at Reiji’s face, he confirms that he probably shouldn’t mention that aloud. 

“What the hell?” 

Reiji steps away. “That...that’s really...weird.”

“So, I guess the carpet can stay for now?”

“Ranmaru, do you think..._ something _is in the house?”

“Reiji, it’s okay. I think if this house had demons living in it, we would know by now.”

“You can’t be so sure.” Reiji’s brow furrows. “Haven’t I been saying this room is scary?”

“Look, sure maybe you’ve been a little freaked out lately, but has there ever been a moment where ya felt unsafe?”

“I don’t know...no?”

“This house was vacant for a while before we came here. Some teenagers probably snuck in here and left this here to scare people.”

“Ah, I guess…”

“Don’t worry too much about it. I mean, on the off chance this...worked— which I highly doubt— we can get the house cleansed, can’t we?”

“Yeah. I guess that’s true.”

Ranmaru sets the carpet back into place, hiding the markings away. 

“Just...pretend we never saw that.” Ranmaru shrugs. 

“That’ll be hard. I’m probably going to have nightmares about that tonight.”

Ranmaru walks over, nudging Reiji’s back. “Let’s go watch something on TV to forget about it, then.”

“...Okay.”

They shut the door again, and Ranmaru tries to ignore the fact that his bedroom is the closest room to the studio. 

_____

The next day, Ranmaru comes home late to an empty house. 

Reiji mentioned earlier that he was going to sleep over at Ai’s, and he’d bet money that has everything to do with the weird markings they found in the house yesterday. Those were creepy enough to bug Ranmaru, so he can’t really blame him. He even consciously decides to leave his guitar case in the living room instead, before getting ready for bed. 

Ranmaru’s dead on his feet, so after removing his pink contact and washing the makeup off his face, he plans to head straight to bed. When he shuts off the bathroom light, however, he catches movement at the end of the hall. His eyes follow after it. At first he thinks he sees a humanoid figure, and he thinks of Reiji, wondering if he decided to come home after all. Then he does a double take. He notices the figure has horns...and a dark, cloudy mist envelops its presence. 

Ranmaru blinks a couple times, hoping he’s just so tired that the lack of sleep has got him seeing things, but the..._ thing _...doesn’t disappear. His body feels paralyzed as he stares it down, his heart hammering in his chest. 

It starts slowly moving toward him, and Ranmaru jerks backwards, his instincts telling him to flee. Adrenaline rushes down his legs. He quickly walks backwards down the hall before breaking into a run. 

He makes for the front door, but when he gets to the living room, he trips over something and completely loses his footing, falling on his side. 

_ Shit, the guitar! _

He looks back, and the figure is still approaching him. The moonlight seeping in through the windows makes the shadowy form of it more obvious. But, the closer it gets, the more it seems to transform and look progressively more...human? Shadows fall away to reveal a man, appearing to be near Ranmaru’s age, loosely wearing only a yukata. The horns Ranmaru thought he saw earlier sit very obviously atop his head, half buried in bright red hair from where they protrude. He approaches Ranmaru cautiously, worry written all over his face.

“S-Sorry, are you okay?”

Ranmaru feels like he’s officially going insane. “W...What?”

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” 

The man shifts his weight on his legs, visibly uncomfortable and mutters under his breath. “Wow, this never gets any easier, does it?”

Still sitting on the floor, Ranmaru pauses— hopelessly confused. He rubs at his eyes. His mind wants to reason that Reiji must be pranking him, and he was running away from someone seemingly put into a weird costume to scare him. Although, if this were a prank of Reiji’s, surely he would have come out by now to tell him so.

Ranmaru exasperatedly pulls his hands away from his face, but the man is still there.

“...Who are you? And what the hell is going on?” Ranmaru asks. 

“Um...” He clicks on the lamp beside the couch— _ wow, those horns look really realistic _. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

He comes closer to Ranmaru, and Ranmaru notices how red the other’s eyes are. 

“Can I help you up?” He asks.

Ranmaru instinctively avoids letting him touch him by quickly getting himself to his feet. 

The man backs away, looking dejected. “Right, well. Please, let’s sit down.”

Ranmaru hesitantly follows him to the couch, putting a great amount of distance between them. “Am I bein’ set up or somethin’? Is Reiji here?”

“Reiji...is that what the other one’s name is?”

“Huh?”

“Um, your friend doesn’t know I’m here.”

“Then, what are you doing here?”

“Well, you might not really believe me...” He laughs, nervously. “But, I’m a demon. I visit this area sometimes.”

Ranmaru thinks of the summoning circle in the studio, but also isn’t sure he’s convinced this isn’t a prank.

“You’re right; I don’t.”

“I can prove it.”

“Uh...how?” Ranmaru asks.

“I won’t do anything bad. Just, don’t blink, okay?”

They silently sit for a second. Ranmaru swears he doesn’t blink, that there’s no movement between either of them, but one moment the “demon” is there, and the next...he simply isn’t. Ranmaru startles in surprise and cautiously reaches out to where he just saw him sitting. He’s about to question his sanity again when two hands suddenly grab his shoulders from behind, and a voice whispers in his ear. 

“Hm, you didn’t blink, but you still missed it.”

Ranmaru immediately jumps up, turning around. His heart is pounding so hard, he thinks he might have a heart attack. The demon crawls back onto the couch looking amused and pleased with himself.

“Did I scare you?” 

“Uh.” Ranmaru swallows. “Kinda?”

“Do you believe me yet?”

Ranmaru can’t think straight; he’s not sure if he can justify what he saw. Maybe he’s beyond tired, delirious even. Maybe he went to sleep already, and this is a really, really odd dream.

“I...I don’t know.”

Ranmaru watches the demon cock his head to the side. He squints at Ranmaru, like he’s trying to think, trying to read him. 

“I guess...I can do something else to try to convince you.”

He gets up, walks closer to him, but Ranmaru backs away.

“I won’t harm you,” he says, softly. 

There’s a nakedness of emotion in the demon’s eyes. He seems hesitant, yet desperate that Ranmaru believe him. The softness in his expression is enough for Ranmaru to stop, but he’s still unsure of his safety. He carefully watches the demon reach out to him.

He lets the demon grabs his shoulders. “But, it will be scary.”

“Wha-?”

An intense wave of dread instantly fills Ranmaru’s body. The breath gets stolen from his lungs, and he loses his sight, being overcome by pitch black darkness. His heart pounds, pounds, pounds, like it will explode any moment. He’s panicking, unable to control his body, head racing with a million thoughts. 

Finally, everything goes cold.

It drags on and on. The anxiety worsens as time goes by, and he’s not able to breathe for long enough that he nearly convinces himself he’s going to die.

_ Is this what...death feels like? _

As quickly as it had begun, it stops. He sucks in a breath, finding himself lying down on the couch with the demon looking over him. Ranmaru opens his mouth to say something, but he’s too shocked to form any words. 

The demon rubs circles over his shoulder— a comforting gesture. “It’s okay; you’re safe.”

Ranmaru looks up at him. Why would a demon comfort him? He thought for sure he was going to kill him just then, but for some reason, Ranmaru doesn’t feel as much of an ominous vibe from him as he thinks he probably should. In fact, he’s starting to feel calmer. 

“Sorry for that. I don’t usually like to do that,” he explains.

“What _ was _ that?”

“I just manipulated your senses. You were never in real danger.”

Ranmaru sighs. “I...think I believe you now.”

The demon giggles. It’s a sweet, calming sound. He’s reminded of wind chimes on a warm, breezy afternoon. Ranmaru thinks he could fall asleep to the sound, his eyelids growing heavy. 

“You should get some sleep now, okay?” The demon whispers, turning the lamp off. “Sweet dreams...”

Ranmaru is suddenly overwhelmed by another wave of darkness, one more inviting this time, and he gives in. 

_____

“Ran-Ran!”

He’s shaken awake, opening his eyes to find Reiji sitting over him with a hand on his shoulder. So, it was a dream…?

“You fell asleep on the couch?” Reiji asks.

“Did I?” Ranmaru sits up and realizes he never changed out of his clothes from yesterday. “I guess, I did...”

“You don’t remember? Jeez, were you drinking or something?”

“No, Reiji. I’m just...exhausted,” he says, in a daze.

“Clearly. Are you okay? Don’t push yourself, Ran-Ran.”

“‘M not, I’m okay. Just had weird dreams is all.”

“If you say so.” Reiji gets up, walking over to the kitchen. “I thought you might still be asleep, so I picked up breakfast for you on the way back.”

“You, getting stuff for me? Hm, seems fishy.” Ranmaru says, getting his bearings.

“What does that mean, Ran-Ran?!”

He follows him. “Reiji, you’re going to work today, right?”

“Haha...um, maybe.”

“And, I have today off, which I told you yesterday.”

“Oh, that’s right!” 

Reiji gives him a dramatic look with pleading eyes, while Ranmaru eyes the bag of food he left on the table for him. The familiar aroma of meat has already filled the kitchen, making Ranmaru’s mouth water. 

“Alright, I’ll cook dinner tonight,” Ranmaru gives in, looking through the bag. 

“Yay! Thank you, Ran-Ran!”

“Mhm. Have something in mind?”

“Not particularly, but we can text later and decide.” Reiji grabs his keys. “I need to get going before I’m late!”

“Okay, see ya.”

Reiji waves, leaving the house, and Ranmaru moves on to start his day. 

  
  


The both of them finally agreed on having curry, so after arriving home from the gym in the early evening, Ranmaru starts to cook.

He begins cutting vegetables when out of nowhere, he hears a _ bang _ from the living room area. The suddenness of it makes him jump, almost cutting himself; he quickly puts down his knife and turns off the stove. It’s around an hour earlier than when Reiji said he would be home. Perhaps he came home early?

“What are you making?” Someone that’s _ definitely not _ Reiji says, directly behind him. Ranmaru whips around from the stove, heart dropping, and the image of a certain red haired demon sitting over him flashes through his mind.

He’s actually there in front of him, moving to sit at the bar in the kitchen. Rays of sunlight from the windows allow Ranmaru to take in his tan, freckled face and partially covered chest.

Shock settles into his body. 

The demons eyes light up, like a puppy’s would at the sight of a treat, sniffing the air. “Are you making curry?!”

Ranmaru stares at him; he can’t really believe he’s seeing him. So...he wasn’t delirious that night, wasn’t imagining anything, wasn’t dreaming— _ he’s real _. He still pinches his arm for good measure, but it stings. 

“Am I...actually insane?” Ranmaru mutters to himself, huffing a laugh.

“No! I imagine it’s shocking to find out demons exist, but you’ll be okay.”

Ranmaru thinks back to last night, when...his senses were being manipulated. Although he mistook the entire encounter for a dream, that experience alone felt so real. So terrifying. He’s never had a nightmare that was on the same level of terror as that. 

“So, you really are real?”

“Yep!”

His sunny, friendly demeanor is odd for a demon, but Ranmaru has heard of demons disguising their true nature to get closer to you. They supposedly appear as inviting as possible to make you more willing to make deals with them, or to allow them the ability to kill you. He should be careful.

“Then…” Ranmaru shifts, uncomfortable at the thought. “What do you want?”

“Well, nothing?”

“Nothing?”

“Yeah. You know, in the first place, I never really meant to show myself to you; it was kind of an accident,” the demon says, scratching his cheek shyly. 

“An accident…”

“It really was! I knew you were scared when you saw me, but I think I might have been almost as scared that you noticed me, too. I wasn’t trying to bother you.”

“Then, why are you here at all, if not to kill me or something?”

“Ah, I just...used to hide away here sometimes before you moved in. One day, I came back and noticed you were living here. That’s when you saw me.”

“So...you don’t wanna harm me, or my roommate?” Ranmaru says, very suspicious.

“No! Believe it or not, I don’t kill humans.”

“Why should I believe you?”

The demon snorts. “Because if I wanted to kill you, I would’ve done it already. There’s been plenty of chances, with your roommate being gone. He’s even gone now; this would be the perfect opportunity, and yet here I am still talking to you instead.”

_ He has a point_, Ranmaru thinks. He even believed he was going to be killed last night, after what he experienced, but he’s still here. There’s probably only one more question still racking his mind. 

“You don’t want to kill me.” Ranmaru humors him, crossing his arms. “Why are you talking to me then?”

“I just want to; I’m...lonely.” He shrugs. “It’s unusual for demons to often hang around each other. But mostly, I wanted to make sure you were okay, I guess— after last night.” 

“Well…” Ranmaru snorts. “I kinda feel like the main character in a horror movie, but y’know, other than that, I’m fine.”

The demon chuckles at that. Once again, Ranmaru feels a warmth spread within him hearing it. It’s like being wrapped up in blankets on a rainy, quietly thundering day.

“You know, maybe I do want something.”

“...What’s that?” Ranmaru says, heart beginning to race as he’s pulled back to the present.

“If you’ll let me, I want to keep visiting you. I just want someone to keep me company.”

It’s an odd request, and Ranmaru considers declining, since obviously he is a demon. But that also means he might continue to bother Ranmaru regardless of his answer. He realizes he has a chance to make a deal with him, so he takes it.

“Okay...I’ll let you come talk with me sometimes. But, Reiji won’t ever see you or hear you. You won’t bother him, deal?”

“Really?! Okay, I can do that.”

Ranmaru sighs, somewhat in relief and turns back to continue cooking. “He’ll be home soon, so you should go.”

“If you finish cooking first, can I eat some before I leave?”

He wants to say no, but the demon is giving him fucking _ puppy eyes _. What the hell?

“...Fine, just a little. Anyway, do you have a name or am I just supposed to call you the demon that haunts the house?”

“Otoya.” The demon smiles. “Call me Otoya.”

_____

It’s been a couple days since Ranmaru made his deal with Otoya, but he hasn’t seen him since. His absence is a little unnerving, mostly for the fact that Ranmaru can’t walk around the house without feeling like Otoya might be watching him. He likes to convince himself that Otoya comes and goes. Hopefully, he leaves straight after every interaction they’ve had.

Tonight, since Reiji isn’t home yet, and Ranmaru doesn’t have any other plans, he might as well slap some bass. It might serve as a good distraction from that creepy thought.

As he approaches the studio door, he hears the familiar plucking sound of his guitar. He opens the door to find Otoya sitting on the floor in front of his basses. He remembers the marks under the carpet again, thoughts clicking into place. 

“I was hoping you would come in here,” Otoya says, lying back on the floor. 

He reminds Ranmaru of a cat, the way he lies around. It’s kinda cute...for a supernatural being to do, he guesses. 

“Uh, why?”

“I’m bored. Talk to me?”

Ranmaru isn’t particularly in the talking mood. Although, he does suppose this would be a good time to ask him if he knows anything about the marks. He isn’t sure he’ll get a good answer out of it, but he may as well try.

“Okay.” He sighs, sitting on the couch and wondering how to start. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about something actually.” 

“Ask away!”

“You said you used to hide here— why did you come here, exactly?”

“Well, every demon needs their own hidden spot away from humans. We prefer abandoned places, usually. Before this was a house, there was an old, abandoned barn here, and I stayed there for a while.”

“...So, you didn’t first come here when this house was here?”

“Nope! I don’t like to be around when people are living here, so when it was first built and a family moved in, I hid somewhere else. I like to come back when people aren’t staying here though, because...I dunno, I have a sentimental attachment to the land, I guess.” 

Ranmaru squints his eyes, perplexed. If all he’s saying is true, that means Otoya has no correlation with the circle underneath the carpet. That could either mean he’s lying...or something else might have been summoned here? If demons are real, he doesn’t really want to know what _ else _ could actually be. 

His eyes wander to the corner of the room, where he can just barely see traces of the black marks on the carpet, because he and Reiji still haven’t changed it out yet, wanting to ignore what lies underneath.

“What’s wrong?” Otoya says, watching him upside down from where he still lies on the floor.

“Nothing, nothing.”

Ranmaru likes to think he’s good at hiding his emotions and what he’s thinking, but Otoya apparently sees right through him. He sits up, eyes following the direction Ranmaru was just looking. 

“Wait, is it still there?”

“What?”

“The circle. Have you seen it?”

_ So he does know about it. _

“Yeah, why the fuck is it there?”

“I think some kids that used to live here did it. I’ve accidentally revealed myself more than just that one time before, and I assume, when one of them got a glimpse of me, they wanted to try to connect with me? I don’t really know, though.”

“What would you call that thing they drew?” Ranmaru says, wondering if it has a meaning to demons.

Otoya bends the carpet over, checking it out. “It’s something you humans made up— a ‘demon summoning circle’, I think. But, they don’t actually work.”

“They don’t?”

“Nah. If you’ve ever heard of a case where someone summoned a demon, it’s probably fake or a stretch of the truth.”

“That’s...oddly comforting.”

Otoya laughs at that. “I bet.”

“Is there...any human-made information of demons that’s accurate?”

“Hm, I’m not really sure? I haven’t seen all of it, of course.” Otoya traces along the markings on the floor. “I won’t bore you with nitty gritty details, but the reality is: demons feed off of different energies from humans to keep ourselves alive, and we don’t necessarily need to kill for us to be satisfied.”

Ranmaru snorts to himself. “Is that a lie to keep me at ease, or is that actually true?”

“Heh, you can take everything I say with a grain of salt, if you really want to.” He flips the carpet back into place. “Also if you wanted to, you could probably sand over that paint and it would come off.”

It would be nice to have a normal floor they wouldn’t have to worry about hiding, so he’ll have to do something about that soon. 

“Anyway,” Otoya says, “it’s you that plays the guitar, right?”

“Uh, yeah.” Ranmaru reaches to unzip his main guitar case. “I play the bass.”

“Would you mind if I maybe, tried to play it?” 

“You play?” 

“Um, a little? I’ve played the guitar more often.”

Otoya comes and sits next to him. He watches as Ranmaru tunes his instrument, eyes almost never leaving it. He’s giving him those puppy dog eyes again...isn’t he? Ranmaru turns to him, sweet, red eyes eating away at his control. Maybe letting him play it for just a _ little bit _ couldn’t hurt, as long as— God forbid— he doesn’t break it.

Ranmaru offers the bass to him. “One song.”

Otoya eagerly takes it and strums slowly to get a feel for it. He begins to play something that sounds old, and vaguely familiar to Ranmaru, although it’s a little off. It seems as though he’s definitely played before, but is very rusty at it now. It’s easy to ignore, at least when Otoya looks so focused, clearly also passionate about playing. 

“That’s not bad.”

Otoya smiles, handing him back his bass. “Thanks. It’s been awhile since I’ve gotten my hands on one of those.”

“Y’know,” Ranmaru considers, trying to make things less awkward, “if you’re gonna keep coming back...then I guess I could teach you some things. Make you a little less rusty.”

“Please?” Otoya visibly lights up.

Ranmaru spends the next hour or two playing, with Otoya attentively watching him. They go back and forth as he teaches the demon some songs that he often likes to play, and it’s not that surprising that Otoya seems to learn very quickly.

  
  
  


Ranmaru usually liked the time he’d spend playing bass not only because he likes music and the bass, but because it also gave him some alone time. And yet, the next few times Otoya visits to watch or play next to him— even if he would talk his ear off sometimes— he finds himself minding Otoya’s company less and less.

_____

It’s a nice sunny day when Ranmaru decides to sit on the back porch to get some songwriting done. He’s had a few ideas for lines swimming around in his brain for a couple days now, and he figures he should get them down now that he has the time.

He sits sideways on the porch swing, stretching his legs out, and types away on his laptop. The ideas he has are for another solo song, which he’s not sure he’ll be able to commit to finishing, but it never hurts to keep them somewhere anyway.

It’s very quiet outside, aside from the cool breeze shaking the tree leaves, and a family of birds chirping in the distance. The peaceful atmosphere allows Ranmaru to really focus in on his work. He writes down pretty much all of the lines he’s been mulling over, reading over them a couple times. A sharp yawn momentarily distracts him, and he starts to consider taking a nap. That is, until someone is suddenly grabbing his shoulders from behind.

A voice speaks loudly in his ear. “What’cha doin’?” 

“Holy fuck!” Ranmaru jumps, gripping his computer so he doesn’t drop it, and swipes at Otoya’s hands. “Are you tryin’ to scare me _ dead _?”

Otoya throws his head back, laughing. “I-I’m sorry; I couldn’t help it.”

“Damn it_, _ stop doing that. I _ swear_, if you make this a regular thing...” Ranmaru eyes Otoya as he moves to sit next to him on the swing. 

“Oh, I totally will.” 

“You’re gonna give me a heart attack. _ That’s _ what your plan is, isn’t it?”

“I would never,” Otoya says, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “No but really. What’cha doin’?”

“Well, I was _ trying _to write.”

“Like, songs?” 

Otoya peers over the laptop, trying to look at Ranmaru’s screen, but he gets dangerously close to Ranmaru’s face in the process.

“Yo, horns!”

“Sorry!” He pulls away, sheepishly. “So, you sing?”

“Do I?” 

“You _ do _! I wanna hear it!”

“Hm, it’s a shame you never will then,” Ranmaru says, closing his laptop and setting it on the porch. 

“You’re so mean.” Otoya pouts. “But, you’re in a band, right? I’ll just have to stalk the radio channels.”

“You go do that. I’m gonna take a nap.”

“Okay!”

Otoya disappears into the house, and Ranmaru has a mini heart attack before remembering Reiji is still at work. He scoots down on the swing, shoving a throw pillow under his head, and lets sleep slowly overtake him.

  
  


He opens his eyes an hour later, feeling refreshed, and there are two things he immediately notices; apparently, a blanket magically appeared on him while he was asleep, and his legs are lying in someone’s lap. Ranmaru glances over, finding Otoya sitting with him, staring calmly off into the distance. 

Something about the scene makes him feel an emotion he can’t quite place. Maybe a sense of domesticity? But it’s odd, for Otoya to be this calm and for them to be this close, and yet it’s nice. It reminds him of previous memories he once cherished, with the common denominator being this type of innocent, cozy intimacy. All of them unfortunately include a couple of faces he’d rather forget.

He realizes then. It must feel confusing, because…it’s bittersweet. 

Ranmaru shifts, trying to shake the thought, and it catches Otoya’s attention.

“Hey, sleepyhead.” 

Ranmaru snorts at the name. He still feels a bit lazy about getting up, so he lets himself close his eyes again. Thankfully for him, Otoya is getting up instead, sliding out from under his legs. He’s not sure where he wanders off to.

It must not be far, because the sound of him walking on the concrete of the porch returns after only a few minutes. Ranmaru’s only a little startled when he feels a hand suddenly in his hair. Otoya places something there, by his ear, and Ranmaru is greeted with a bright smile when he opens his eyes.

“Now you look cute.”

“Hm?” Ranmaru touches his head, finding a small wildflower entangled in his hair.

“Well actually...you still look cuter when you’re sleeping.”

Ranmaru’s eyes widen, and he hopes pink isn’t starting to dust his cheeks. It’s been awhile since he’s heard that...and why the hell would Otoya say that?

“You don’t have that constant scowl on your face when you’re asleep,” Otoya continues. 

“Oh gee, thanks,” Ranmaru deadpans, but can’t fight the smile forming on his face. 

He playfully pushes at Otoya’s chest, but Otoya catches his hand. Having expected himself to be swatted at, Ranmaru is confused when Otoya lets his hand stay there. They look at each other for a few seconds— a familiar, but not quite awkward tension surrounding them— with Ranmaru’s hand on Otoya’s bare chest. They’re pulled out of it when they hear the front door slam in the house. 

“Ran-Ran, I’m home!”

Otoya backs away, looking to flee. 

“See ya later?” Ranmaru whispers.

He gets a smile and a quick nod in response, and then Otoya is gone. 

Ranmaru picks up his laptop, grabbing the flower out of his hair, and wonders what that weird moment they had was, before going back inside.

_____

When Ranmaru comes home from work, he knows Reiji isn’t going to be home again. He’s not sure where he is, but he assumes he’s with Ai, as per usual. That’s why he’s not too surprised to find Otoya sitting on the living room couch when he walks through the front door. 

He has a lingering feeling that something is weird about this situation, but decides to shrug it off. 

“You’re back!” Otoya jumps up, coming in for a hug. 

That’s odd, in and of itself, because he’s pretty sure, even after all the time Otoya has visited, they’ve never hugged...and Ranmaru for some reason isn’t repulsed by the idea of doing so. When they pull away, that’s when Ranmaru notices— Otoya doesn’t have his horns. He starts to question if Otoya ever had them in the first place, and why, until all of a sudden, he’s being pulled onto the couch with him. 

Everything seems fuzzy around the edges, but Otoya is a solid presence, practically sitting on his thigh, demanding his attention. He rests a hand on Ranmaru’s arm. 

“You’re being very clingy today,” Ranmaru says. 

Otoya hums, reaching up to trace a fingertip along his jawline and leaning in so close that his breath ghosts over Ranmaru’s lips. 

“I missed you while you were gone.”

Ranmaru inhales sharply. Their closeness is dizzying, but very pleasant. He lets Otoya tilt his head to the side, and suddenly his lips are all over Ranmaru’s neck, sucking and biting. He groans, reveling in the feeling. 

Otoya’s lips slide towards the back of his ear, and he bites, hard enough to leave a mark, at the sensitive skin there. Ranmaru reaches out, finding soft, red hair to grip at, and the action brings Otoya’s attention away from his neck. He grabs Ranmaru’s hand, placing it on his bare chest instead. Somehow, Otoya was moving so much that his yukata had slipped down his shoulder, revealing some of the smooth skin there. 

Intense, red eyes catch his own as Otoya leans in again, caressing Ranmaru’s face and shyly licking at his mouth. Ranmaru opens for him, letting him lick at the roof of his mouth. The hand Otoya has on his face moves down his neck, over his chest, and keeps going down, down, down…

  
  
  


A loud ringing rips Ranmaru away from his sleep, jerking him awake. His fingers aimlessly poke at his phone screen until his work alarm stops. He sits up in bed. It takes a second for the dream he just had to completely process in his brain. 

Okay, it’s been a while since he’s had some action, so he gets why he had one of _ those _ kinds of dreams. What he doesn’t get, is why it had to be _ Otoya _in the dream, of all the possibilities. Usually that would mean he unconsciously...wants that with him. 

But that’s illogical, because Otoya is a demon. Ranmaru should be scared of him, and in fact, he kind of is sometimes. It must just be because they’ve been hanging around each other a lot. But even so, that was still one of the most confusing dreams he’s had in awhile. 

He is absolutely sure of two other things, at least. First of all, he’s definitely going to need a cold shower as soon as possible, and second of all, he’s _ really _ fucked.

_____

Cold autumn air hits Ranmaru’s face as he leaves the studio building. The sun has set already, light posts and signs shining over the streets. His hands automatically hide in his pockets to keep warm as he speed walks to his car. All he can think about is getting home as soon as possible and wrapping himself in a burrito blanket. 

That thought gets interrupted, however, when he feels someone grab his arm and pull him into the alleyway. 

The person is stronger than him, which scares him since he’s never met someone physically able to drag him away without any of his own resistance interfering. He braces for impact as he’s thrown against the wall, and before he gets the chance to come to his senses and clock whoever dragged him away, the person bursts into laughter. It’s light, familiar, and...cute sounding? 

“You should have seen your face…!” Otoya says. 

“Haha…” Ranmaru dusts himself off. “_Very _ funny.”

“It was!”

“No, it fuckin’ wasn’t.” Ranmaru shoves Otoya’s shoulder, and he moves with it, which means he _ let _Ranmaru push him. He tries not to let that thought bother him too much.

Otoya gets moved under a bit of light peeking into the alley as he nearly doubles over from laughing. Apparently, he ditched the traditional attire and opted to wear something modern. He’s in a hoodie and jeans with more color going on than Ranmaru expected from a demon. His horns are also absent from his head. He must have purposefully hid those somehow.

“Aww, did I make the big, tough human mad?” Otoya jokes, squeezing Ranmaru’s bicep.

“Shut it. What the hell are ya doin’ here?”

“Hehe, I wanted to visit you; y’know, like hang out?”

“You could’ve just said so, instead of tryin’ to kidnap me.”

Otoya smirks. “But it’s more fun that way.” 

“For _ you.” _Ranmaru huffs, giving him another once over. “...So, what’s with the get up?”

“I did a little glamouring, so I could go out with you.”

..._ Why did he have to word it like that? _ Ranmaru thinks as his heart flutters (to his own embarrassment) _ . _He tries not to let images resurface of that certain dream he had recently. 

“Right...demon-magic-shit. Anyway, was ‘uh, nice of you to catch me after work, but I’m fuckin’ freezin’ out here...and I’d like to get home.” 

Otoya inches closer, urging Ranmaru to back up against the wall. He winks, giving him a shy smile, and begins to speak in a low voice. 

“I can help with that,” he says, running his hand up and down Ranmaru’s arm. Ranmaru wants to laugh, maybe out of nervousness that Otoya’s playing with him so well, but then a shiver runs down his spine— his hand is abnormally warm. Although, it’s not in an unpleasant way. This clearly has to be another demon trait, yet Ranmaru doesn’t recall noticing it before. Unless, Otoya’s just making himself hot for him…

_ God, that stupid dream. Stop fuckin’ thinkin’. _

“Humor me?” Otoya cocks his head. 

Ranmaru’s voice is shaky as he answers, and he swears to himself, it's only because of the cold. “F-Fine, you win.”

As soon as his mouth closes, Otoya is grabbing his hand and dragging him out of the alleyway.

“Oi! Where are we going?”

“I have something I want to show you— it’s not that far.”

Otoya guides him down the street, talking about something Ranmaru couldn’t be bothered to tune in to, because he’s too focused on the very warm hand in his own. He doesn’t realize he’s huddling closer to the warmth radiating off Otoya’s body, even when their shoulders are pressed up against each other. 

  
  
  


They wander into a fair when Otoya stops them. It must be autumn themed what with the pumpkin patches scattered around the park. The area is obviously more populated as well, due to all of the amusement rides and stalls, which makes Ranmaru a bit nervous for Otoya. Glancing at him, however, he finds the demon’s eyes lit up with delight.

“You wanted to show me the fair?”

“No,” Otoya says, still dragging Ranmaru along. “This is just a slight detour.”

He watches as Otoya scans their surroundings, clearly looking for something. 

“Are you hungry?”

“Uh...not particularly? I just went out with coworkers not too long ago.”

“Do you like sweets?”

“On occasion.”

“Is right now one of those occasions?”

Ranmaru snorts, lips slightly curving into a confused smile. “What are ya plannin’?”

“You’ll see.” Otoya drags him over to a bench. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

The moment he leaves, Ranmaru is reminded of how cold it still is, and he almost misses him. It’s kind of...nice, to be able to hold him when he’s as warm as he is. He also has a scary feeling there’s more to it than that, though. 

As Ranmaru sits on the bench, his phone vibrates in his pocket. He finds a text from Reiji when he opens it, telling Ranmaru that he won’t be home tonight, because he’ll be with Ai, which is perfect for him. Now if he ends up home later than usual— which he’s definitely going to after his adventure with Otoya— he won’t have to worry about covering for himself. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he notices someone sliding onto the bench next to him. 

“I’m back~”

Otoya leans toward him, both hands clearly hiding something behind his back. 

“What did you steal?”

“I didn’t! I actually had some money, okay?”

“Okay, I believe you,” Ranmaru says, unconvinced. 

Otoya pouts, and it really shouldn’t be cute. He makes himself believe it isn’t; Ranmaru is just not used to seeing it on him.

“Alright, what did you _ buy _?”

His pout is replaced with a grin, and he reveals a clear bag, setting it in Ranmaru’s hands. It’s full of pink cotton candy. 

“Do you like it?”

Ranmaru normally doesn’t allow himself to eat something like this, but it can’t hurt him to have some every once in a while. 

“Yeah, sure.” 

He rips off a piece to eat, letting it melt in his mouth. Otoya follows him, taking an even bigger piece than he did and shoving it into his mouth. 

Ranmaru glances around. “Are you...able to eat something like this?”

“Oh, yeah! I can technically eat whatever I want, I just don’t need to for...y’know, survival.” 

Ranmaru nods, not wanting to continue such a conversation where anyone could be listening. It likely wouldn’t make sense to anyone else, but he feels uncomfortable nonetheless. He tries to change the conversation.

“I didn’t know you liked sweets.” 

“I don’t usually, but cotton candy is fun. I like to feel it melting on my tongue.”

Otoya shifts to sit criss cross on the bench, leg now touching Ranmaru’s thigh. His leg is also really warm, but it’s very close to a certain part of Ranmaru that he’d rather not be involved in anything right now. He instead focuses on Otoya’s warm arm brushing against his own every time he reaches for more cotton candy, which is almost gone by now mostly because of Otoya. Speaking of which, that means their detour is nearly over, too. He’d like to know where exactly he’s going, and he feels like he may never get there unless he pushes to go. 

“Hey, uh, what was it you initially wanted to show me?”

Otoya jumps up, throwing their empty bag away. “Are you ready to find out?”

“Hopefully,” Ranmaru says, unsure of what’s in store for him.

“Let’s go!”

Otoya slips his hand into his as they walk off together, and Ranmaru lets it happen. He takes them through the crowd and far away from it, nearing a part of the park that’s seemingly closed off. 

“Are we supposed to be over here?”

“No one will notice, just don’t let go of my hand,” Otoya says. 

As they disappear deeper into the park, no one pays any attention to them, and Ranmaru, being guided by a demon, doesn’t care to think about that any harder. They move off of the main path, where Otoya guides them to a gate. It seems as if it should be locked, but Otoya fiddles with it for a second, and it opens. 

“This is it,” he says, pulling Ranmaru into a garden area. Because of the season, none of the flowers are in good shape, but the trees should have plenty of beautiful, warm colored leaves that almost make up for it. Ranmaru can’t see them, but he guesses that’s what they look like. It’s hard for Ranmaru to see anything at the moment, really. It’s so dark that he can’t tell where he’s going, but he can tell there’s a few different ponds in the garden, some of which he’s sure have fish living in them. He should probably be careful of those.

Otoya’s hand slips out of his, and he runs off to the teahouse at the side of the garden. Ranmaru tries to follow him, being mindful of where the edges of the ponds are. The main problem is, the bridges that have been built over them were made in a zigzag formation out of wood, without any guards on the sides, and it’s so dark that he can’t really tell the bridges from the water. 

“Otoya?”

“I’ll be there in a second!”

All of a sudden, he hears crashing in the distance, like wood and metal falling on concrete. Ranmaru startles, venturing towards the sound to find Otoya. He quickly tries to guess where the bridge might continue, which is a mistake. He tries to make broad jumps but doesn’t quite meet the wood on the next step, leaving his heels hanging off, where all of his weight wants to go. 

“Shit!”

He’s fully preparing himself to fall backwards into the water, but a pair of hands grab at him and pull with force. Ranmaru stumbles forward into Otoya’s arms a little too harshly. That strength of his is kinda terrifying. 

“Sorry, I should’ve told you to wait for me!”

“S’okay; ya really saved my ass.” Ranmaru pulls away from him. “What the hell was that loud noise?”

“I knew you wouldn’t be able to see much, so I was going to get a light from the shed, but some gardening tools fell on me.”

He reaches down to pick up a battery operated lantern, turning it on. It’s bright enough for Ranmaru to see where he’s going, but nobody from outside the garden should be able to see it with all the shrubbery in the way.

“So, what’s so special about this garden?” Ranmaru says.

“I’ll show you!”

Otoya holds out the light for him, taking him past the teahouse. In the distance, there’s a grassy hill, and he drags Ranmaru up to the top. He sets the lantern down and practically collapses onto the grass. 

Otoya slaps the ground right next to him. “Come sit.”

Ranmaru obliges, and Otoya turns off the lantern now that they’re settled. 

“Now, look up.”

He does, getting a wide expanse of the clear, starry night sky. It might be one of the best places to view the stars, for still being in the city. There’s definitely still some light pollution, but it’s a great view otherwise. They might actually be able to make out some constellations. 

A hand pulls at his shoulder, startling him out of his trance. 

“It’s better for your neck if you lie down.”

Ranmaru allows Otoya to pull him down, so they’re both lying in the grass. He doesn’t move away when he gets guided to lay his head on Otoya’s arm, but that’s because he really needs the warmth. 

“Do ya know any constellations?” Ranmaru asks. 

“Yeah! Actually, I know all of them. I’ve had...a long time to memorize them.”

“Mm, show me some?”

Otoya excitedly points out some that they can see, using a finger to trace them out for Ranmaru. He jabbers away, explaining nearly everything he can about them, and eventually, the only thing Ranmaru is really focusing on is how delighted Otoya sounds. He can be very passionate about a lot of things, so this isn’t anything new. It just makes him feel...happy. That Otoya is happy. It makes a different kind of warmth settle over him.

They eventually end up in a comfortable silence. It’s getting late, and Ranmaru knows he should probably be getting home soon, but he can’t bring himself to move from Otoya. As he tries to convince himself it’s time to go, Otoya speaks up.

“Hey, you have work tomorrow, right? I should get you home.”

“Probably…”

Otoya sits up, turning the lantern back on, and Ranmaru moves to sit up, too. 

“You know,” Otoya says, “I’m surprised you let me take you somewhere unfamiliar, especially where we’d be alone.”

Ranmaru freezes, embarrassed that he let his guard down. 

“It makes me happy that you trust me a little more now, though.”

“I _ guess _I do.” He admits.

Because really, Otoya has been around for weeks now. If he did have malicious intent with being around Ranmaru, he most certainly would have made his move by now. Honestly, he’s been nothing but kind and courteous around him, aside from the occasional jumpscares he likes to give him. 

“I appreciate it.” Otoya knocks his shoulder with his own, failing to stifle a giggle. “So, did you have fun?”

“...It was nice, but we also could’ve done this at the house, y’know.”

“That’s true...but, maybe I just wanted to...steal you away for a bit.”

Ranmaru looks at him, studying his face for signs of mischief, but Otoya looks at him with dark eyes in a way more appealing sense. He shyly looks at him through his eyelashes, and Ranmaru dares to think he’s being coy. 

“Yeah?”

Otoya nods. They’re in such close proximity that he notices little specks of orange in Otoya’s red eyes, sparkling in the light, and small freckles dusted over his nose and cheeks.

_ Fuck, he’s...yeah, he’s definitely cute_. 

Otoya bites at his lower lip, nervously, moving Ranmaru’s attention to his lips. Something in the atmosphere changes then, and Ranmaru leans closer, knocking Otoya’s shoulder. He doesn’t move away.

_ Fuck it. _

Ranmaru keeps leaning until he’s catching Otoya’s lips. Otoya responds to the contact immediately, gripping his shoulder and kissing back. He can both hear and feel Otoya sigh through his nose, which is really odd since he doesn’t need to breathe. 

Otoya tenses all too quickly and pulls away from him. Ranmaru opens his eyes to find his horns back on top of his head.

“Sorry, I-I just wanted to remind you...so you don’t regret anything…”

“I know. I’m trying to worry about that later,” Ranmaru says, going in for another kiss. He catches a small whine from Otoya’s throat, and suddenly hands are caressing his face and traveling up to grip his hair. Otoya kisses him fervently, moving to sit on his criss crossed legs, and Ranmaru pulls him close, liking the weight of him on his lap. 

Eventually, Ranmaru has to pull away to get air, but Otoya only gives him a few seconds break until he’s sucking on his bottom lip. 

“Do you wanna know a secret?” Otoya says.

“Huh?”

“I was hoping this would happen. Kissing you, I mean.”

“Really?”

“Just a little bit. I’ve kinda wanted to for like, the past two weeks.”

“Are you…” Ranmaru trails off. 

He loses his train of thought when Otoya starts sucking at the skin below his jawline. This scene seems all too familiar, and his brain begins to jumpstart. He gently pushes against Otoya’s chest. 

“W-We should...we should talk about...about _ this_.”

God, since when does he stutter this much? He never realized just how much Otoya can affect him. Thankfully, he pulls away from his neck, seeming to understand.

“We should. There’s no rush, though; we have time.” He climbs off Ranmaru and pulls him up off the ground. “I should...get you home safe first.”

“That’s fair, I guess.”

Otoya picks up the lantern, and slips his other hand into Ranmaru’s again. They make it out of the garden without nearly falling into any ponds this time, and Otoya shuts the gate. Slowly, they start making their way back to Ranmaru’s car. 

“So, do you think you’ll let me steal you away again?”

“Hm, depends,” Ranmaru jokes. 

Otoya pouts. “I’ll take you somewhere more fun next time~.”

“Oh really?” He tangles a finger in one of Otoya’s belt loops, pulling him closer and knocking their hips. “Can I tell you a secret, too?”

“What?” 

Ranmaru whispers close to his ear. “All I need to have fun is to be with you.”

Intriguingly, he notices a pink spread onto Otoya’s face before he hides in Ranmaru’s shoulder. He ruffles his hair, and lets Otoya hang on his arm, resting his head against him, as they walk the rest of the way back.

  
  
  


Ranmaru isn’t sure what to expect from being involved with a demon, which arouses some anxiety within him. Whenever he’s with Otoya, however, he feels pretty convinced that things will be okay. And the next time Otoya catches him after he gets off work, he gives in a lot more quickly to his request of adventuring. 

_____

Late into the night on a weekday, nearing one in the morning, Reiji isn’t home yet. 

Ranmaru is slightly worried, since he hasn’t received a text about him sleeping over at Ai’s or about being late. It’s so late that he’s about to fall asleep watching TV in the living room. He thinks about calling him, and right on cue, his phone starts ringing. Of course, he’s being called by none other than Reiji. How convenient. 

He answers immediately. “Hey, I was gonna call ya. Where are you?”

“S-Sorry, I was ‘uh, out with...with coworkers.” Reiji talks slow, still slurring his words. “We wen’ drinkin’. An’ I— _ oh shit!” _

“You sound plastered,” Ranmaru says, holding in a laugh at the sound of Reiji tripping over his own feet.

“Heh, jus’ a lil…” Reiji pauses. “Can you...p-pick me up?”

Ranmaru is already grabbing his keys, walking out the front door. 

“Yeah, I’m comin’. Send me the address.”

  
  
  


Otoya is sitting atop a movie theater in a well populated area of the city. He’s people watching; something he often does when he’s bored. By now, it’s become a nightly routine when he doesn’t need to go into a resting state to save energy. Any other time, he would go visit Ranmaru, but since it’s late, he figures he’s asleep by now. 

Or so, he thinks.

Otoya begins to pick up the presence of a familiar soul, louder than the rest of them. It’s somewhat distant, towards the direction that one of his favorite secret places would be. 

Ranmaru.

He wonders why he’s out so late, but then gets excited at the idea of possibly being able to steal him away again. It’s not like they haven’t had these “dates” more than a couple times, but he’s still always excited to be with him. 

Since he has nothing else to do, and he has a feeling he should check on him, Otoya decides to seek him out.

  
  
  


Ranmaru parks a little ways down from the bar, getting out to look for Reiji. He assumes he won’t be able to get to the car without some assistance walking. 

He walks up and down the sidewalk, scoping out the entire street the bar is sitting on, but there’s no sign of him. At this time of night, there’s hardly anyone outside, other than the occasional drunk. Ranmaru would clearly be able to find him with no problem. He briefly wonders if maybe he didn’t go to the bar with the right kind of people but quickly dismisses the thought. Before he can go into full panic mode, Ranmaru tries calling him. 

At the same time, he hears a phone ringing behind him. His breath catches in his lungs. He turns, eyes following the sound downward, and there on the ground is...Reiji’s phone. The fried chicken charm on the case, which he’s pretty sure is the same one Ai got him as a joke, is a dead giveaway. When he reaches for it, he notices it was dropped right in front of an alleyway.

_ Fuck _, he thinks, mind going to the worst scenarios this scene could possibly insinuate. Soon after, he hears a shout of someone in pain. He pockets both phones for now, and although he knows it’s a stupid decision, follows the shout. 

He hears movement far down the alleyway, so he hides around a dumpster. There’s another terrified cry, and Ranmaru is pretty sure the person’s voice sounds familiar. He can tell there’s only two people, one being the victim, and the other being the attacker. If the victim is still alive, he doubts the attacker has any lethal weapons, assuming maybe a knife at the worst. Ranmaru takes a chance and comes out of hiding. 

“Hey!” Ranmaru yells.

He moves closer, adrenaline readying him to defend himself. He captures the attention of both people, and immediately realizes something is very off about this situation. As he thought, Reiji was jumped, and is now being held forcibly against the wall, face getting pushed into it. His attacker, however, looks far from human.

A sharp, circular horn, similar to that of a ram’s, is dangerously close to Reiji’s neck. Framed by bright, blond hair, glowing orange eyes sear into Ranmaru’s, and he thinks he sees fear flash through them for a split second. The demon releases Reiji, leaving Ranmaru confused but relieved. As Reiji is pulled from the wall, he falls towards the ground. Ranmaru lunges forward, possibly against his better judgement, and he moves to catch him. The demon backs away from them, still close enough for Ranmaru to notice the frustration clear on his face. 

_ Why would he just let us go like that? _Ranmaru wonders.

Something catches the demon’s attention from above. He jumps, climbing up the side of the building and disappears onto the roof. When Ranmaru looks up after it, he catches a glimpse of another one, with familiar red eyes and hair. His heart sinks. 

He quickly looks to Reiji. “Hey, you okay?”

He doesn’t answer, eyes glued shut, but Ranmaru feels that he has a pulse, and there doesn’t seem to be any wounds on him, either. 

_ Shit, did he pass out? _

Ranmaru picks Reiji up, swinging one of his arms around his shoulder, and takes him back to his car. He’s thankful that the street is as vacant as before, because if people saw him carrying a passed out person into his car, that might not go over well.

Ranmaru manages to get him situated in his backseat, and he barely avoids speeding as he drives home. 

Once Otoya confirms that Ranmaru and Reiji are okay, he goes after the unknown demon, finding him a few buildings away from the bar. He obviously senses Otoya before he sees him, because he speaks with his back turned to him. 

“So, you still courtin’ humans?” 

“What?”

Otoya senses some kind of familiarity from him, but he can’t remember why. It must be through close association with someone he knows. Otherwise, how the hell does he know that Otoya courts humans?

The demon turns around, looking at him with bright orange eyes. _ Those eyes, _ Otoya remembers. This guy hangs around Syo sometimes; that’s how they’ve met. What was his name, again? Yam...Yamato?

“That other human smelled just like you,” Yamato says. “Caught me off guard.”

_ That must’ve been why he released Reiji, _ Otoya thinks. _ He wanted to get away from Ranmaru, because he thought he was _ me _ in glamour. _

“Don’t touch either of them ever again, okay?” Otoya says.

“And if I do?” Yamato challenges. 

“You’ll regret it.”

Yamato laughs. “It doesn’t hurt to throw down with one of your own kind every once in a decade, right? What’s the little ‘human courter’ gonna do, anyway?”

“That’s bold talk for someone who ran away from what he _ thought _ was a ‘human courter’ intercepting him.”

The smile fades from Yamato’s face. “Alright, he’s your property. Whatever. They’re both probably tainted, then.”

Such an attitude reminds Otoya of when he first met Syo. He used to constantly capture and kill humans to feed, even enjoying the challenge of fighting other demons for it too. He and Tokiya managed to get him on a more planned out feeding schedule, scoping out humans who are already on their way to impending death when he needs something more sustainable. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Yamato wants that kind of compromise.

Otoya could never understand the pleasure of killing humans, which is why he and Yamato will probably never understand each other. 

“I’m gonna go track down a fresh one. Have fun playing with your little toys,” Yamato salutes him before jumping off the side of the building. 

Otoya brushes himself off, and turns to head back to Ranmaru’s house. 

  
  
  


Luckily, Reiji comes to by the time they get home. He’s a little more sober, but doesn’t seem to recall the past hour, which is good for Ranmaru. He probably has the alcohol to thank for that. 

Ranmaru helps Reiji to his room, where he passes out for the night. Something else to thank the alcohol for, because when Ranmaru goes back into the kitchen, Otoya is already there waiting for him. 

“You were there, weren’t you?” Ranmaru says, busying himself with pouring a glass of water to leave for Reiji.

Otoya’s eyes widen. “How did you know?”

“I saw you, obviously. On the roof. After that other demon escaped.”

“I didn’t know you could see me.”

“Yeah? Is that because you didn’t _ want _me to see you?”

“Wha-?”

“So you don’t like killing humans, huh?” Ranmaru laughs, a pitiful sound, dejected. “Was that a fuckin’ lie? Or do ya just scope some out for your demon friends so they can catch an easy kill?”

“Wait, no. Ranmaru, I-” Otoya reaches for him, but Ranmaru smacks his hand away.

“I told you to stay away from him…! Fuck, I knew this was gonna happen; I never should’ve trusted a fuckin’ demon. I never should’ve trusted you.”

“I had no-”

“I never should’ve agreed to having you around.”

“Please, Ran-”

“No, shut up! Get out!”

Ranmaru pushes Otoya away. “You’re no longer welcome here!”

“Ranmaru…”

“Get out, now!”

Otoya disappears before his eyes. 

_____

After retreating back into the city, Otoya finds himself lying on the roof of a skyscraper. He would’ve gone back to his usual place at the Japanese garden, but it might hurt too much to be there right now. He might think too much about the memories it brings. 

Regardless, it took him a while to stop crying, which he doesn’t often do. Even though he knows that Ranmaru was probably just tired and scared and needs time to process things, he can’t help but feel upset. It’s mostly at himself, because he understands how terrifying that probably was for Ranmaru. He feels like he failed at making him feel safe. Eventually, he’ll make a point of going back to explain things, but he needs some time beforehand. Ranmaru might, too.

He thinks about Reiji, considering getting himself a hard drink, when he suddenly senses the presence of two other, familiar demons behind him. 

“Oh, look who it is.”

Otoya jerks up, looking back at Tokiya and Syo. 

“It’s been a while,” Tokiya says, immediately making himself comfortable next to Otoya.

“What are you two doing here?”

“Just passing through.” Syo stops, sniffing the air. “What’s that smell?”

“Ah, I had a small feeding not too long ago,” Tokiya says. 

“Not that. It’s a different smell...more potent.” He approaches Otoya, sniffing his way. “You been hanging around a human?”

Tokiya snorts. “What else is new with this one?”

“...Is it really that strong?” Otoya self-consciously sniffs his armpit. Yamato was also able to tell right away, so it must be bad. He shouldn’t be surprised, really. He’d been around Ranmaru for quite a few months.

“Did someone find a new human to court?” Tokiya says.

“That’s...well-”

Syo interrupts. “I really can’t understand why you like courtin’ those creatures.” 

“We’ve talked about this before,” Otoya sighs.

“Seriously, though. We’re demons; we’re supposed to feed off of them to survive. You like courtin’ your food?”

“We all have our different ways of feeding, Syo,” Tokiya interjects. 

All of them do feed differently, preferring different types of energy to receive sustenance from. There’s a few different ways to feed, and whatever the preference in energy is usually keeps the demon satiated for a long time, compared to other human energies. 

Syo doesn’t much like Tokiya’s way either, given that he sleeps with people to feed off of sexual energy. Otoya specifically prefers to feed off of romantic energy, which is obviously difficult to do. Regardless, he’s somehow always managed to sustain himself enough to keep from starving. Tokiya tells him it’s because he has good traits; Otoya has a way of bringing warmth into people’s lives, of unconsciously charming people. 

“So, this doesn’t weird you out at all then?” Syo looks to Tokiya. 

“Well, I can’t actually understand it, but I do tend to court demons.” Tokiya looks up at the stars. “While demons and humans are clearly not the same, the idea of falling for someone, wanting to be a source of their happiness, isn’t that essentially the same?”

Syo scrunches his face. “Well...you’re biased.”

Otoya laughs, despite himself. He knows Syo doesn’t mean any harm. Just as Otoya and Yamato might never understand each other, Otoya and Syo might never, either. That’s technically okay, as long as they can all coexist without wanting to kill each other. They’ve been successful so far.

He thinks about Ranmaru again, for what’s probably the thousandth time that night. At this point, he’d give anything to be a source of his happiness, which is probably why he feels like such a piece of crap after what happened. If the odds of Ranmaru eventually coming around are in his favor, maybe they still have hope. 

“Thank you, Tokiya.” He shoots a playful look at Syo. “At least one of my friends support me.”

“Hey, I don’t give a fuck what you do with your food, okay?”

Both Otoya and Tokiya sputter out laughs. 

“Fuck, I mean like...do whatever makes you guys happy!”

“We will, thank you,” Tokiya says.

Syo crouchs between them, putting an arm around them. “Okay, now do you guys want to go fuckin’ drink some alcohol, or not?”

Otoya, completely unopposed to the idea of a distraction, answers first. “Let’s go!”

_____

A week had passed since the incident, and Ranmaru has been spending a lot more time alone than usual, hiding away in the studio to play bass to distract himself. He kind of hopes Reiji hasn’t paid much attention to that. Because really, how could he explain himself?

Although he can’t fully admit it, the argument he had with Otoya is haunting him. It didn’t register to him how shocked Otoya was in the moment until way later and that he didn’t really give him time to explain his side of the story. The more he analyzes the scene, the more he wonders if Otoya was just as panicked as he was, like he was trying to protect them. 

This entire time Ranmaru had been suspecting that he was dangerous— he is a _ demon _ of course— but he’s already previously decided that Otoya must not have any malicious intent, and there honestly still isn’t solid proof that he ever did.

Either way, it still really hurt for his fears to be put into action as they were. He can’t deny that the situation terrified him.

It seems that Ranmaru let the walls he built up go crumbling down too easily; he was too comfortable. Yet, even now, it feels wrong that Otoya isn’t sitting beside him, listening to the strumming of his guitar. He pushes the thought away by focusing on his calloused fingers moving quickly over the fretboard. 

Reiji opening the studio door suddenly interrupts him. 

“Hey, I need to talk with you about something.”

“Everything okay?” Ranmaru says, setting his guitar aside. 

Reiji sits beside him on the couch. 

“Yeah. It’s just…I’ve been talking with Ai. I know it’s not even been a year of living here with you, but he wants me to move in with him.”

“...Okay.”

“_Is _that okay?”

“Obviously. I mean, I’m not gonna prevent you from livin’ with your _ boyfriend _. Plus, you guys have been datin’ a while; I kinda expected it sooner or later.” 

“Aren’t you gonna be lonely by yourself?”

“No,” he says. It wouldn’t be a lie if he still had Otoya, but…

“Wow, Ran-Ran! You won’t even miss me?” Reiji puts a hand over his heart, feigning shock. 

Ranmaru knocks his arm. “I’m tryin’ to support you here.”

“I know. Thanks, Ran-Ran!” He smiles, jumping up to leave. “I’ll go tell him you’re okay with it.”

Reiji swiftly closes the door, and Ranmaru is alone again.

_____

The alleyway is dark, much more than Ranmaru remembers. 

As he walks deeper into it, he feels the presence of someone, like eyes on his back. He doesn’t want to turn around, knows he probably shouldn’t, but his curiosity gets the better of him. 

A pair of glowing, piercing orange eyes stare back at him. The demon growls an unsettling noise, mouth opening far enough to reveal sharp fangs, and he tilts his head downward, showing off equally sharp horns. He takes a stance like he’s getting ready to ram straight through Ranmaru. He tries to move, tries to turn and run away, but he’s frozen in place.

There’s a flash of red hair suddenly in his vision, and Otoya is there, pushing and forcing the other demon away by the chest. They struggle for a while; using nails and teeth, scratching, biting, and tearing at each other. Each of them tries to bash the other into the walls, narrowly avoiding a bone breaking hit every time. Ranmaru still can’t move, forced to watch as they fight, feeling sick to his stomach over it. 

Otoya seems to be going strong until the other demon gets a hand wrapped around one of his horns. He’s forced against the wall. The horn is ripped cleanly out of his head, and the other demon spears Otoya’s throat with his own circular one. 

Red splatters all over the ground. 

  
  


Ranmaru wakes up in a cold sweat. 

He rubs his eyes, willing away the image of an injured Otoya from his brain. It takes him a few minutes to catch his breath, and then he automatically reaches for his phone on the nightstand. It’s going on three in the morning, but there’s no way he’ll be going back to sleep anytime soon. 

After a moment of consideration, he tears his way out of bed and heads for the studio, thinking maybe if he plays his bass, it will help clear his mind. He heads into the hall and notices light seeping out from under the studio door. He’s pretty sure he turned it off last time he was in there, so that can only mean one thing. 

Ranmaru opens the door. By some miracle, Otoya is there, lounging on the couch in deep thought, startling when he notices him. He stands up, somewhat shocked.

“You’re awake…?” 

Ranmaru feels an instant relief. He figured Otoya was alright in reality, but it feels as if a weight was lifted off his shoulders— the shaken feeling his nightmare caused now mostly gone. Instead, he now feels overwhelmed with guilt, moving towards Otoya.

“What are yo-?”

Before Ranmaru fully comprehends what he’s doing, he’s cupping Otoya’s face and kissing him. Otoya is tense at first, but immediately relaxes against him. He grips Ranmaru’s shirt and tries to follow his lips when Ranmaru pulls away. 

“I’m sorry,” Ranmaru says. 

“_ Don’t _ be. You have every right to be worried about your safety, to be afraid of me.”

“I don’t think I am...not anymore.”

“Finally?” Otoya teases, but quickly grows serious again. “Listen, I _swear_ that I’ve only ever tried to protect you. I know my timing looked suspicious that night, but that’s all I’ve wanted— for you to be safe.”

“You really proved that a long time ago; I doubted you. I’m so-”

Otoya pulls him forward, roughly kissing him. 

“Stop apologizing. Please?”

“But I feel like...I dunno, an idiot.”

“Well, you kinda are one.”

Ranmaru wrinkles his nose at that, and squishes Otoya’s cheeks. Of course, all the demon does is find amusement in it, laughing. He grabs at Ranmaru’s hands.

“No,” Otoya says. “Really, I don’t blame you. I was upset at first, but I know I would react similarly if I were in your position.”

“...Are we okay then?”

“I certainly think so.” 

Otoya pushes the bangs out of Ranmaru’s face. He must feel how sweaty he still kind of is, but he guesses that he doesn’t care...until Otoya starts squinting at him.

“Did you...have a nightmare or something?”

Always on the mark, this one. 

“Geez, how do ya know everything?”

“I’m good at reading people, if you didn’t notice,” Otoya says, still looking ever so concerned. “...Was it bad?”

Ranmaru imagines Otoya without one of his horns, and subconsciously traces his thumb down Otoya’s neck like he’s something precious. It’s probably obvious by the look on his face, so Ranmaru doesn’t bother to answer or dismiss the concern. Otoya doesn’t say anything either, just pulls him into a tight hug. 

Although he’s a lot more relaxed now, he still doubts that sleep will come easily. He’s also not sure he’s interested in going back to a cold bed. He buries his face in Otoya’s neck, smelling the familiar scent of Otoya— pine trees and sunshine. Ranmaru’s not sure where the courage comes from, but he finds himself asking anyway. 

“Will you...come lie down with me? I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep unless you’re there.”

He can feel Otoya’s smile against his skin. “I’d be happy to.”

  
  
  


When they crawl into bed together, Otoya spoons him. Ranmaru rests a hand over the arm Otoya has under Ranmaru’s neck for comfort, grounding. Otoya runs his fingers through his hair rhythmically, and the action lulls him into a peaceful sleep. 

_____

A few months later, the two of them go camping together.

  
  


It’s night time, and they’re lying on a thick blanket outside of their tent. They have a nice view of the stars in the clearing between the forest trees, but neither of them are admiring them like they said they would when they planned this. 

Otoya is on his back, relaxing with his eyes closed, and Ranmaru is lying propped up on his elbow, busying himself with tracing constellations over the freckles of Otoya’s cheek. His favorite stars. They’re cuddled so close that Otoya had to glamour away his horns. It’s also for precautions as they’re technically in a public place, although they seem to be the only ones out here tonight. 

It’s freezing, given that it’s now the dead of winter, but Otoya is radiating enough heat under their blankets that it keeps Ranmaru nice and warm. He snuggles closer and traces a finger over Otoya’s nose, stopping to poke at it.

“Are you having fun there?” Otoya asks, amused.

Ranmaru hums an affirmative noise then kisses his cheek and along his jaw. Otoya sighs, turning over to wrap his arms around Ranmaru.

“You’re really affectionate when you’re sleepy, y'know that?”

“Nah.” He denies, cushioning his head on his arm to be level with Otoya. “...Just love you.”

“I rest my case.”

Ranmaru groans, nipping the tip of Otoya’s nose. A giggle erupts from him.

“I love you, too. So much.”

Otoya pulls him impossibly closer, and Ranmaru buries his face in his red hair. He doesn’t often get to indulge in doing so because of the horns that usually adorn his demon boyfriend’s head. 

That’s right...his demon boyfriend. 

Sometimes, when Otoya is glamoured for too long, Ranmaru can forget he isn’t actually human. He’s found himself questioning lately— when he’s out and about trying to live his life, when he’s alone trying to sleep at night, when he gets a glimpse of what his life was like before Otoya— what they have with each other...is it really something they _ can _have? 

Can love really work between a human and a demon?

Ranmaru has never been one to wear his heart on his sleeve, always afraid that if he does, he’ll be disappointed again. People always want things from him, and they take and take until they eventually tire of him and leave. Ranmaru has convinced himself he’s okay by himself as long as he has his music. He’s not really sure when Otoya was able to break down his wall and worm his way in. 

“...Is this okay?” He wonders aloud.

“What, you wanna sleep like this?”

“No, I mean...being with you. Is that really okay?”

He’s being vague, he knows, but Otoya seems to understand what he’s trying to say anyway. He always somehow does.

“Of course it is. I’ve done this kinda thing before, and there’s never been any problems.”

“Really, never?”

“Really; if there ever was an obstacle, I’ve found ways around it.”

“So, it’s possible to have a normal life with you?”

Otoya giggles. “Define ‘normal’.”

“I mean to tell people about you; make you pass as a human to others.” Ranmaru pauses. “I don’t want anyone to...I don’t want you to be in danger.”

“Aw, are you worried about me?”

“Otoya,” he groans.

“Yes, Ranmaru. I can absolutely pass as human with zero chance of anyone ever questioning it. Anything regarding legalities is tricky though, for obvious reasons. So like, for example, we could have a wedding and be ‘married’, but not legally married.”

“You’ve...gone that far before?”

“A couple times.”

For some reason, it’s only now that Ranmaru is realizing just how old Otoya must be. He wonders how many partners he’s been with, if Otoya even remembers all of their names, if he remembers any of the time he shared with them. If one day, a few centuries into the future, he might forget Ranmaru’s name or that he ever met him at all. 

“You got quiet,” Otoya says. “Are you thinking too much in there?”

Otoya peers at Ranmaru’s face, brows furrowed, and pokes at his forehead. He takes Otoya’s hand, his serious demeanor never fading. 

“Maybe…”

Otoya eyes him. He’s able to read Ranmaru so well, he’s wondered if he has the ability to read his mind more than once before. Even the most bottled up and buried feelings are never able to escape those kind eyes.

“Let me tell you something.” Otoya’s grip tightens on his hand. “I’ve courted quite a few humans in my time, yes, but I still remember each of their names, faces, and why they were important to me. I cherish every single connection I’ve ever made, because I learn so much from every single person I meet. If you think you’re going to be a face lost in a sea of people to me, you couldn’t be more wrong.”

A warmth fills Ranmaru’s chest. There’s so much more that Ranmaru has to learn about him, but for some reason, that sounds just like Otoya— to be so deeply fascinated with people and to care so deeply for them. He never expected that he’d meet such an emotional and complex demon, if he were to meet one at all. Perhaps Otoya chooses to pursue humans, because he’s an anomaly; closer to being human than demon.

Ranmaru swallows. “So, does that mean…?”

“I want to be with you, if you’ll have me...” Otoya brings Ranmaru’s hand to his lips and kisses his knuckles. “For your lifetime.”

Ranmaru’s heart flutters, pounding in his ears. Otoya puts a hand over his chest, and he knows he can feel it racing. He can’t help his lips curving into a smile. A lifetime with Otoya— that’s all he could ever ask for, honestly. 

“I’d like that.”


End file.
